A starlight night with no clouds in sight.
Taking in the majesty of the world above.
Fire from millions of miles away light up our night.
It pierces through space just to reach our eyes.
You're looking up and smiling.
Your eyes twinkle in the light.
When I look into them I can see the star light.
I can see the night sky and the swirling galaxies.
This whole time everything is spinning.
The Earth revolving around the Sun.
The Sun revolving around the center of the Milky Way.
The Milky Way revolving around the center of the Universe.
But to me it's me that is spinning.
My life revolving around you.
You and your eyes full of stars.
I want to capture that light.
To capture this moment of us together.
But the night does not last.
And neither does this moment.
Eventually the sun will come out and the stars will fade from view.
But I will still think back to this moment.
And you, my whole universe, wrapped in my arms.


text:
Domestic Box Office For Sep 26, 2013
1 1 Prisoners $1,428,155 -10.9% - 3,260 $438 $27,683,932 7 Warner Bros. false false
2 2 Insidious: Chapter 2 $594,460 <0.1% -50.5% 3,155 $188 $62,797,395 14 FilmDistrict false false
3 3 The Family $510,381 -12.1% -46.2% 3,091 $165 $28,022,170 14 Relativity Media false false
4 4 The Wizard of Oz
2013 3D/IMAX Release
$379,850 -2% - 318 $1,194 $4,523,816 7 Warner Bros. false false
5 5 Lee Daniels' The Butler $353,457 -5.3% -30.9% 2,931 $120 $107,864,069 42 The Weinstein Company false false
6 6 We're the Millers $341,103 -8.6% -24.6% 3,003 $113 $139,553,452 51 Warner Bros. false false
7 7 Riddick $287,090 -5.1% -45.8% 3,022 $95 $38,449,565 21 Universal Pictures false false
8 8 Instructions Not Included $268,792 -3.2% -11.8% 978 $274 $35,187,488 28 Lionsgate false false
9 9 Battle of the Year $174,909 -4.6% - 2,008 $87 $5,468,292 7 Screen Gems false false
10 10 Elysium $123,873 -8.9% -40.4% 1,392 $88 $91,349,062 49 TriStar Pictures false false
11 11 Planes $122,809 -8.3% -23.7% 2,446 $50 $86,922,159 49 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures false false
12 12 Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters $73,622 -2.2% -20.3% 1,473 $49 $64,578,751 51 Twentieth Century Fox false false
13 13 The World's End $65,470 -5.1% -46.3% 832 $78 $25,502,572 35 Focus Features false false
14 17 One Direction: This Is Us $58,939 +21.4% -28.1% 1,706 $34 $28,677,678 28 TriStar Pictures false false
15 14 2 Guns $56,505 -11.6% -37.8% 752 $75 $74,716,410 56 Universal Pictures false false
16 15 Despicable Me 2 $55,220 -8.3% -8.4% 1,004 $55 $360,981,820 86 Universal Pictures false false
17 18 The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones $48,679 +4.1% -44.5% 1,047 $46 $30,855,219 37 Screen Gems false false
18 16 Thanks for Sharing $44,191 -17.2% - 269 $164 $738,591 7 Roadside Attractions false false
19 21 The Spectacular Now $35,470 +1.1% -50.8% 571 $62 $6,541,779 56 A24 false false
20 20 The Conjuring $35,033 -1.6% -28.6% 561 $62 $136,770,763 70 Warner Bros. false false
21 19 The Wolverine $35,016 -2.2% -25% 462 $75 $131,035,173 63 Twentieth Century Fox false false
22 22 The Grandmaster $24,298 -11.5% -53.9% 473 $51 $6,400,526 35 The Weinstein Company false false
23 23 The Heat $22,367 -4.3% -17% 310 $72 $158,765,527 91 Twentieth Century Fox false false
24 25 Enough Said $20,000 -2.6% -23.1% 4 $5,000 $367,479 9 Fox Searchlight Pictures false false
25 26 In a World... $19,849 -2.2% -21.5% 144 $137 $2,484,657 49 Roadside Attractions false false
26 24 Salinger $19,045 -10.4% +387.1% 138 $138 $439,992 21 The Weinstein Company false false
27 28 Turbo $17,689 -3.9% -26.1% 333 $53 $81,713,412 72 Twentieth Century Fox false false
28 27 Rush $16,099 -18% - 5 $3,219 $260,909 7 Universal Pictures false false
29 30 The Way Way Back $15,550 -1.4% -41.2% 324 $47 $21,234,004 84 Fox Searchlight Pictures false false
30 31 Pacific Rim $14,756 -1% -22.7% 202 $73 $101,512,503 77 Warner Bros. false false
31 29 Getaway $14,574 -10.2% -71.6% 515 $28 $10,469,383 28 Warner Bros. false false
32 32 You're Next $14,095 -1.3% -66.9% 532 $26 $18,379,214 35 Lionsgate false false
33 33 World War Z $12,777 -6.6% -51.3% 203 $62 $202,190,728 98 Paramount Pictures false false
34 34 Kick-Ass 2 $10,100 -8.6% -54.7% 201 $50 $28,795,985 42 Universal Pictures false false
35 35 Jobs $8,859 -3.3% -53.5% 152 $58 $16,090,059 42 Open Road Films (II) false false
36 36 RED 2 $8,699 +2.1% -21.3% 178 $48 $52,804,877 70 Lionsgate false false
37 37 The Ultimate Life $8,442 +9.9% -64.7% 184 $45 $1,294,215 21 High Top Releasing false false
38 39 Fruitvale Station $7,031 +10.8% -31.9% 103 $68 $15,987,338 77 The Weinstein Company false false
39 41 R.I.P.D. $6,795 +12.2% -24.8% 151 $45 $33,618,855 70 Universal Pictures false false
40 38 Paranoia $6,543 -2.5% +95.1% 88 $74 $7,356,875 42 Relativity Media false false
41 40 Now You See Me $6,332 +0.4% -41.7% 133 $47 $117,723,989 119 Lionsgate false false
42 43 Closed Circuit $4,167 +8.4% -83.1% 105 $39 $5,750,401 30 Focus Features false false
43 45 Populaire $3,121 +10.6% -29.8% 20 $156 $117,103 21 The Weinstein Company false false
44 44 C.O.G. $2,992 +4.5% - 20 $149 $44,253 7 Screen Media Films false false
45 47 Haute Cuisine $2,138 +10.4% - 3 $712 $23,103 7 The Weinstein Company false false
46 46 Unfinished Song $2,072 +3.9% +16.5% 23 $90 $1,687,729 98 The Weinstein Company false false
47 42 Much Ado About Nothing $1,477 -64.8% +12.7% 18 $82 $4,314,782 112 Roadside Attractions false false
48 48 Chennai Express $1,158 +41.4% -22.3% 19 $60 $5,298,341 50 UTV Motion Pictures false false
49 49 Antoine and Antoinette $871 +32.8% - 1 $871 $1,527 2 Rialto Pictures false false
50 50 Le joli mai $547 +8.1% -76.2% 2 $273 $22,016 14 Icarus Films false false
51 52 Satyagraha $274 +61.2% -84.8% 9 $30 $737,876 28 UTV Motion Pictures false false
52 54 Jayne Mansfield's Car $160 +31.1% -79.4% 6 $26 $14,836 14 Anchor Bay Films false false
53 55 Savannah $135 +10.7% -70.6% 4 $33 $37,240 35 Ketchup Entertainment false false
54 51 Stories We Tell $45 -84.3% -4.3% 5 $9 $1,597,667 140 Roadside Attractions false false
55 56 Passion $44 -63.6% -93.5% 4 $11 $92,181 28 Entertainment One false false
56 53 I Spit on Your Grave 2 $41 -67.5% - 1 $41 $809 7 Anchor Bay Films false false
57 57 Far from Vietnam $28 -73.3% - 1 $28 $3,446 30 Icarus Films false false

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Dan Monti, also known by his stage name Del Rey Brewer or simply Brewer, is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer who has worked with such bands as Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses. The bulk of his work, however, has been in conjunction with Buckethead, with whom he has also toured as a bassist.

Musical career
Monti is a guitarist and bassist, frequently adding bass parts to Buckethead albums. He is also the lead guitarist for the Serj Tankian's touring band Flying Cunts of Chaos.
The band released their first single "Daysheet Blues" on iTunes in July 2010. He is also the lead vocalist for F.C.C.

He toured with Buckethead and Brain in 2017.

Production career
Monti has been credited on many albums in his career, the first being Bucketheadland 2 in 2003. He has since gone on to produce most of Buckethead's albums, a few examples being Pepper's Ghost, Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot, and Cyborg Slunks. The first one contains a track "Brewer in the Air", presumably inscribed to Del Rey Brewer. He is also credited on many of these albums as the bassist, as well as co-writer and mixer.

Monti has contributed to many high-profile bands' albums, including Serj Tankian's solo albums. He is listed for "additional engineering" or as "assistant engineer" on Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy, on which Buckethead also featured, as well as being credited for "digital editing" on Metallica's Death Magnetic and Slayer's World Painted Blood.

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American record producers
American audio engineers
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal bass guitarists
Deli Creeps members
20th-century births

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dennis VanBeest's 1981 11 Meter S-2. [18R] "The hatch cover is a sunbrella fabric and you can see the teepee shape. Wind doesn't bother and keeps most all rain out and the sun too. V-berth is always cool. I use the spinnaker halyard to hold up the center. I'm having one made for the main salon hatch too."


Andrew Melton is a Founder and President of A2aMEDIA. Prior to founding the Company, Andrew's background as an Architect included work on some very large commercial and multi-use developments. He then founded his own architectural firm where he was the Managing Partner for over 15 years. In addition, he founded a real estate development company which developed residential and commercial properties. Throughout his career, Andrew has developed, designed, and constructed over $1 billion worth of structures, including residential, multi-use and commercial buildings. He received a M. Arch degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Brian is a Founder and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at A2aMEDIA. Prior to joining the company, Brian co-founded an advertising sales organization that grew to 150 employees under his leadership. While there he worked closely with a variety of clients, including several Fortune 500 enterprises. Brian has also held senior positions at Digitas. In a distinguished career spanning three decades, he has overseen the placement of over $200 million in advertising. He holds a degree from Northeastern University.
Carlos a founder and Senior Vice President of Design and Installation at A2aMEDIA. Previously, Carlos co-founded an architectural firm specializing in curtain wall technology and large-scale building facades. He has played key roles in the development of many significant projects, including the 70-story Bank of China in Hong Kong, the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, and the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. He holds a M. Arch from Carnegie Mellon University.
JR is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at A2aMEDIA. Throughout his career, he has served as the CFO and/or the COO for several high-growth companies. JR has also played key roles in the acquisition and sale of ten companies. He holds a B.S. in accounting and quantitative methods from Babson College.
A2aMEDIA has the capability and proven track record to Project Manage with planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals in DOOH large scale project delivery.


Sports draws can be found HERE.
We rely on parents and caregivers to coach and manage most sports teams, and are very fortunate to have so many parents who are willing to work with, and support, our children. Where possible we invite external organisations to provide sporting experiences within school time such as cricket and hockey coaching, and golf tuition.
Grant's Braes sports uniforms must be worn for all sports games and events and occasionally extra items are required too, such as shin pads or mouth guards. The sports uniform can be ordered and purchased through the Kindo system.
We encourage our children to demonstrate fair play and to show respect to their teammates, the opposition, the referees and their coaches. All children who register for a sports team must adhere to our Fairplay Code of Conduct which can be downloaded HERE.
This is an annual event where senior school representatives from Grant's Braes and Palmerston compete in a selection of sports, with each school hosting the sports on alternate years.
Futsal (indoor soccer) is played on Wednesday afternoons at the Edgar Centre in Terms 1 and 4. Futsal is for all year levels and is very popular for all ages. Children require shin pads and long red socks in addition to the sports uniform.
Teeball is played at Bathgate Park on Saturday mornings in Terms 1 and 4. Teeball is a great game for all ages and we offer Teeball for all year levels. Please note, if your child wishes to play Teeball in Term 4, they must also continue the season after the Christmas holidays and play in Term 1 the following year.
Netball is a winter sport played in Terms 2 and 3 at the Edgar Centre. Netball is currently offered for children of all ages, and games are held on different days depending on year level. In the 2017, Year 1-4 children played on a Monday afternoon and Year 5-6 played on a Tuesday afternoon.
Miniball is played on Thursdays after school in Terms 2 and 3. Games are held at the Edgar Centre and are offered for Year 3-6 children. Children are required to wear a mouthguard in addition to their sports uniform.
Hockey is played on Wednesdays after school in Terms 2 and 3. Games are held at the hockey turf in Harbour Terrace and are offered for Year 3-6 children. Children are required to wear a mouthguard, shin pads and long red socks in addition to their sports uniforms. Your child does not need to purchase their own hockey stick, as they can borrow one from school if needed.
Rippa rugby is played on Monday afternoons at the Edgar Centre in Terms 1 and 4. Rippa is offered for children in Years 3-6 only.
Touch is played on Thursday afternoons at the Oval in Terms 1 and 4. Touch is offered for children in Years 3-6 only.


NOTE: The information contained in our Frequently Asked Questions page is for informational and educational purposes only, and does not constitute professional medical or nursing advise or the practice of medicine. We assume no liability for inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. The information contained on this site cannot take the place of medical advice from your physician. The information contained on this site cannot address your specific and unique condition, but only addresses very general issues. Nothing contained herein is intended to be for medical diagnosis or treatment. You should seek prompt medical care from your physicians for any specific medical or health issues. By continuing to use this web site, you consent to our agreement concerning the use of this Web Site.
I'm 57 years old and had had bypass surgery 5 years ago. I'm taking Lipitor 10 mg daily to keep my dab cholesterol (LDL) around 100. Is my doctor being aggressive enough with my medication?
I remember my grandmother had Angina Pectoris and that it was a heart-related condition. I wonder if I might be susceptible to that also. Can you tell me about it?
I have heard it said that almost 100 million Americans do not routinely get a good night's sleep. Can you explain what causes insomnia and some suggestions as to what to do about it?
I've been told I have angina. How significant is that and should I be worried?
I've been told that if I think I am having a heart attack, I should go to the emergency room immediately. My understanding is that they can do something to abort the heart attack and make me better. What is it that can be done?
When should one go to the emergency room?
Is it true that there is an Emergency Room crisis in America today?
What exactly is mitral valve prolapse? I'm 51 year old female, and my doctor said I had a degree of severity of one over six. What would be the significance of that and what could be done about it?
I've heard that once you are diagnosed with hypertension and start medication, you will be on these drugs forever. Is that true?
What is meant by the term 'congenital heart disease'? How common are they? Why do they occur? Is a child with a heart condition at increased risk from infection?
Is it possible to have reversal of blockages by taking medication?
Lately I've been getting short of breath when climbing stairs and walking fast. I've heard that this could be a sign of heart disease.
I have Asthma and I've been told that there are certain things that I should avoid that might make my asthma worse. Can you explain what they might be?
What are the risks of taking Statin drugs to lower your cholesterol?
My mother has had two TIA's over the last 6 years. Neither has left any permanent damage. Does this most probably mean the 'Big One' is coming unless we do something?
I've heard that women live longer than men and have better overall health. Is that true?
How do I know if I am having a heart attack?
How do I know if my chest pain (angina pectoris) is coming from my heart, or is only heartburn?
If my parents have heart problems, will I?
What is the importance of my cholesterol level?
What kind of foods are bad for my heart?
Will stress hurt my heart?
What does it mean if I have a heart murmur?
What does an irregular heartbeat mean?
What could be wrong with me if I pass out?
Are calcium channel blockers harmful?
Why can't I walk very far without my calves cramping?
What is balloon angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery?
Why do arteries close back off after angioplasty surgery?
What are my limitations after heart bypass surgery?
Will having heart disease affect my sexual life?


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Cute Cloudy Shenanigans-Rain on Your Parade
On April 24, 2021 By reverandpapajonIn Art, Blog, Indie, Reviews, Uncategorized, Video games
There will only be a handful of people that will believe this (and ultimately say this), thank God for Twitter. I believe Twitter is a decent enough institution to allow indie developers to be able to advertise their game in a decent manner. This is how I came across Last Man Sitting and this week's game…
I just wanted to play a simple, easy game this week.
This week I evaporate and take the form of a cloud and ruin so many people's days while low key saving the world from a LYRICAL GENIUS. This week I played Rain on Your Parade.
Rain on Your Parade is a comedic adventure game brought to you by Unbound Creations. The game released on April 15th, is available on Xbox, PC and the Switch and retails for $15.
Cloudy only exists because of a bedtime story. The story starts out one with adventure and what it means to be nice, then it becomes a haphazard tale of a cloud trying to save the world from a cloud hating scientist. Dr. Dryspell is the ultimate evil and he will not quit until Cloudy is no more.
Cloudy can utilize rain, lightning and snow throughout the entirety of the game. Levels instruct you to rain on people or to stop fire from spreading, use lightning to usher people out from underneath their safe havens and snow to trip up those not paying attention.
There are objectives that need to be met and then you move on to the next level. Most of the time the objectives are incredibly easy to achieve and require basically zero thought. For example, there is a level that is literally a rip off of a Counter Strike map and the only objective is to stop the enemy from disarming the bomb.
The creativity in each level is just fantastic.
I played a series of levels based solely off of The Office, I went on a quest that was almost a total rip off of a Zelda game, I played Counter Strike, partook in a few movie inspired levels, ETC.
Just great.
Aside from your basic levels, there are leaderboard levels that you can rack up a bunch of points to be at the top (not me though baby, I'm trash).
The game announces somewhere around the middle that you can't really hurt these people because A. they are made of yarn and B. it would shoot the rating up and that was never going to be an option, so what I am trying to say is that the game looks good when it wants to but on closer inspection, it looks like poop. Humans have dots for eyes and mouths (?). Humans are only discernible because there is really nothing else on screen at the same time.
It's cute to say the least.
Music is good enough that I remember some melodies even though I haven't played the game in a few days.
You can openly customize the face of our favorite cloud. I designed mine to look tired because I am, in fact, always tired. Upon completing levels, customization rewards are given out.
Rain on your parade is a game by a group of people that wants its players to just have fun, that is very clear but it does get boring at points. Challenge is non-existent, but that is not necessarily a bad thing (it is just for me).
FUCKING TOOOOOO EASY.
It is a really accessible game; perfect for all ages. My wife played it and had a blast, even though she only played a few levels. The humor is really good and it strikes some nerves that some people may not appreciate.
Making fun of Zelda games being rehashed is awesome.
Rain on your Parade is a fun game made by fun and creative people and it really shows.
Give it a play, yeah?
P.s. I did rain on the menu npcs and they pushed my start button into the ground and forced me to restart my game.
Death & Forgiveness- Mortician's Tale and Luna
Don't Blink – Before Your Eyes.


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River Ave. Blues » March 18th Camp Notes: Ellsbury, Cuts, Rotation, Ryan
March 18th Camp Notes: Ellsbury, Cuts, Rotation, Ryan
March 18, 2015 by Mike 414 Comments
Spring Training Game Thread: Tanaka, Take Two
Learning curve, hard-hit ball tendencies point to offensive upswing for Didi Gregorius
Your browser does not support iframes. The Yankees pummeled the Braves 12-5 on Wednesday night. Masahiro Tanaka made his second start of the spring and was fantastic, allowing two hits in 3.2 scoreless innings, striking out three. He looked as strong as ever. Andrew Bailey made his spring debut — it was his first game action since July 2013 — and allowed an unearned run on two hits in an inning of work. The television gun had him at 92-93, which would be amazing after a torn shoulder capsule if true. His curveball was all over the place though. "Rusty" is the word I would use to describe how Bailey looked.
Didi Gregorius and Brian McCann led the way offensively. Didi went 3-for-3 with a triple and McCann went 2-for-2 with two walks and a two-run homer. Stephen Drew also mashed a two-run tater. Brett Gardner went 1-for-3 with a walk, Chase Headley went 1-for-2 with a walk, both Mark Teixeira and Garrett Jones went 1-for-3 with a double, and Chris Young went 1-for-3. Also, the Braves are going to be bad this year. Very, very bad. Here's the box score, here are the video highlights, and here are the rest of the day's notes from Tampa:
Jacoby Ellsbury went for an MRI and has been diagnosed with a low grade oblique strain, the Yankees announced. He'll be shut down for the next seven days. Opening Day is 18 days away now, so there's still time for Ellsbury to rest, heal up, and get ready for the start of the season. Any sort of setback might force him to start the regular season on the DL, however.
The Yankees announced another round of roster cuts following last night's game. Branden Pinder was optioned to Triple-A Scranton, Gary Sanchez was optioned to Double-A Trenton, and Domingo German was optioned to High-A Tampa. Don't ready anything into the level assignments, those are just the player's workout group for the rest of spring. Greg Bird and Kyle Roller was both reassigned to minor league camp as well. I unofficially count 53 players still in big league camp.
The upcoming rotation: Esmil Rogers (Thursday), Adam Warren (Friday), Michael Pineda (Saturday), and CC Sabathia (Sunday). I assume Nathan Eovaldi will either throw a simulated game or pitch out of the bullpen one of those days. Also, Joe Girardi said Bryan Mitchell will make at least one more start this spring. One of the split squad games on April 2nd seems like a good guess. [Chad Jennings]
Brendan Ryan (mid-back sprain) is on track to return to game action on Friday. Some of the position players who didn't make the trip for tonight's game took batting practice back in Tampa, but there were no bullpens or throwing sessions scheduled. [Jennings, Brendan Kuty]
Lefty Jose DePaula is heading for an MRI on his shoulder after dealing with continued soreness. He's had a ton of arm problems over the years, including shoulder tendinitis in 2013. DePaula has only thrown two innings during Grapefruit League play but had been throwing regular bullpen sessions. [Jennings, Kuty]
In case you missed it earlier, tonight's game against the Braves will be replayed on MLB Network at 11pm ET. Tune in for Tanaka, if nothing else.
Filed Under: Injuries, Spring Training Tagged With: Jacoby Ellsbury


Congratulations bride-to-be! Good luck on finding the best dress for you! Let me tell you a bit about the dress I picked: It was the first dress I tried on; classic and elegant. My number one priority was comfort - it's a long day! This dress is extremely comfortable, not constricting around the bust allowing for big deep breaths but also hugs in the right places so you're not pulling it up constantly. Danced all night in it - no outfit change required!
Size: there is no size listed in the dress because it was custom fit. But my bust size is around D34, and my usual dress size ranges for 2-6 (depending where you shop).
What it's made of: 100% silk underlay, lace, chiffon (bodice), silk ribbon. Handmade in Canada.


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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie voted Women's prize 'winner of winners'
Alison Flood
November 11, 2020, 7:01 p.m. ·3 min read
Thirteen years after she won the Women's prize for fiction, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel about the Biafran war, Half of a Yellow Sun, has been voted the "winner of winners" of the literary award in a public vote.
The one-off prize, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the award, was judged by members of the public, who were asked to name their favourite of the 25 winners. Adichie's novel, which follows the lives of several characters caught up in the civil war in Nigeria in the late 1960s, beat titles including Zadie Smith's On Beauty and Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. More than 8,500 people voted, according to the prize.
Now a household name and international bestseller thanks to novels including Americanah and her essay and TED talk We Should All Be Feminists, Adichie was just 29 when she won the Women's prize for her second novel in 2007. Then known as the Orange prize, that year's contest pitted the Nigerian writer's work against Booker winner Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss and Anne Tyler's Digging to America. The chair of judges in 2007, Muriel Gray, called Half of a Yellow Sun "astonishing, not just in the skilful subject matter, but in the brilliance of its accessibility".
The author, who is currently in Lagos, Nigeria, said she was "especially moved to be voted 'winner of winners' because this is the prize that first brought a wide readership to my work – and has also introduced me to the work of many talented writers."
'Great books live beyond their time' … Kate Mosse. Photograph: Rosdiana Ciaravolo/Getty Images
Kate Mosse, who founded the Women's prize prize in 1995 after the judges of the 1991 Booker failed to include a single woman author on their shortlist, said she was "thrilled" that Adichie had won an award that was intended to show that "great books live beyond their time".
"One of the things that's so fantastic about Chimamanda being the winner of winners is that a lot of younger readers are now coming to that novel, who probably didn't read it when it came out. It's felt like a really celebratory thing to be doing over this very strange year," said Mosse.
Mosse has reread all 25 winners of the prize over lockdown, and described Adichie's contender as "a book that speaks to anybody, whoever they are, wherever they come from, whatever their point of view is, and I think that there are not that many books which do that".
Adichie's novel tackles colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class, race and female empowerment. "But it's beautifully told because you're there rooting for characters, and in the end, that's what history is. It's about the real people who stood on that spot … It's a really, really fine novel, and it was a great pleasure to reread it," said Mosse.
Related: Women's prize at 25: what it is like to win by Zadie Smith, Naomi Alderman and more
Adichie, who will be taking part in an online event with Mosse on 6 December at 7pm, wins a silver edition of the prize's statuette, which is known as the Bessie.
For Mosse, the Women's prize has never been about anger that women were being overlooked by literary prizes, rather about celebrating great writing by women. "In the very early days, people did want it to be 'everybody's furious'. But it was never that – it was absolutely saying, 'There seems to be a problem about the honouring of writing by women, what are we going to do about it?' It's about saying to people: try these amazing books," she said. "We do need to celebrate excellence, we need to celebrate imagination, we need to celebrate women's voices and diverse voices from all over the world. We're never going to not need to celebrate, I think."


Blacksmithing Station (Way of the Arena) is a furniture in Elder Scrolls Online. It's a part of Housing System. It's used for apartment decorating.
Description: When placed in your home, allows you to craft Blacksmithing items in the Way of the Arena item set.


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It's Not Just the Media
I had similar, more verbose thoughts recently here.
I think there are two related contributing factors that make the media's specific strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome so virulent.
Since 1974, there has really been one place to go if you want to get rid of a politician who really doesn't want to get with the program, and that's to the media. Since the resignation of Nixon and the publication of All the President's Men, followed by the movie and that heartthrob Robert Redford taking down the White House, that's been every journalist's dream equivalent of a pony on Christmas morning.
And up to now, they've never gotten another sitting president. Oh, sure, there was Gary Hart, but he was only a frontrunning candidate then, and the media bias had not yet sufficiently evolved to make him invulnerable. By 2012, they had tagged Mitt Romney is the guy with binders full of women locked in a cage on the roof of his car with a bunch of Russians, the biggest geopolitical threat of the new century (what an idiotic thing that was to say, amirite? Obama and the Dems sure knew better, didn't they?)
Since the day in 2015 when he announced his candidacy, Donald Trump has been the low-hanging fruit that every journalist hopes to build a career on. So why can't they get to him? I mean, look at the cartoon! The man is crazy! Everyone knows it!
"ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE JUMPING OFF THIS BRIDGE, MOTHER!! AND I'M GOING TO JUMP AS SOON AS IT'S MY TURN! KEEP MY AVOCADO TOAST WARM FOR MY RETURN. AND A CHAI LATTE AS WELL, UNLESS THERE'S PUMPKIN SPICE. "
I mean, Trump MUST be insane, mustn't he? Because if HE'S not crazy, then that must mean…
…and alternative too unspeakable to contemplate.
On the plus side – unlimited applesauce!
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on August 30, 2018 Categories Politics10 Comments on It's Not Just the Media
In November, 2016, the choices at the top of the ticket were bleak.
For the Republicans, I thought Donald Trump had shown himself to be a populist, a narcissist, a policy ignorant boob, entirely unqualified for the political realities of the highest office in the land.
For the Democrats, I thought Hillary Clinton was an entitled leader of an elitist party, a consummate politician in contrast to Trump, but transparently capable of any dirty trick on either side of the line separating lawful from unlawful in her pursuit of the position she had cynically pursued since 1992 or longer.
And…I was right. Boy was I right.
I couldn't morally vote for either one of them, and I didn't. But I did vote. I live in a state where the outcome of the vote and the electoral votes conferred was not ever in doubt. This afforded me some freedom.
I voted for a concept more than I did for a candidate whose values aligned with mine. Federal election rules call for a party whose candidate receives at least 5% of the popular vote to receive federal matching funds in the next cycle. So in my state, that left me the opportunity to leverage my choice for either Jill Stein of the Green Party or Libertarian Gary Johnson. Neither had a chance of winning my state, so I chose the candidate closest to my values – Johnson.
Let me reiterate here: I knew Johnson couldn't win my state, and I knew the candidate who eventually DID win my state would do so with or without my vote; my hope was that Johnson could reach 5% of the national popular vote.
He didn't. In this sense, I was not a winner in the 2016 election.
In another sense, I was. I voted, and thus retained my right to complain about anything I damn well please, but I didn't vote for Hillary, nor did I vote for Trump. CAN'T BLAME ME!
Trump won. And, as expected, he has been a boorish asshole.
He tweets too much, and is unrestrained in his rhetoric.
He is undiplomatic and angry.
He screws porn stars. The best Bill Clinton could do was an intern and, as James Carville put it, the kind of woman you'd get if you dragged a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park.
Trump marries supermodels. Hillary married a man who gets blowjobs from White House interns attracts the kind of woman you'd attract if you dragged a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park.
Trump requires loyalty from his people, while he also gives second, third and fourth chances to staffers who clearly do not deserve it.
He lacks the politician's ability to fake sincerity.
He is so politically inexperienced that he can't even pretend to respect the media that would drive him out of office if they could.
He treats those who don't like him, who disagree with him, who insult him behind his back and who constantly try to cut him down in a manner much like I treat people who don't like me, who disagree with me, who insult me behind my back and who try to cut me down.
There's are many reasons I have never run for public office, but one of the biggest is I lack the required temperament. I have trouble pretending that the disrespectful assholes I deal with are worthy of my respect.
Kind of like Trump does.
But funny things happen around Trump. And they happen often enough that it's worth noticing in Washington D.C. where such things don't often happen.
Tax cuts.
Conservative justices to the federal courts.
Stunning economic progress.
Diplomatic successes from an administration not afraid to fail along the way.
And it's that last one that for me is vitally important. Donald Trump doesn't appear to give a damn what you think of him. He's going to do what he wants, fuck you very much.
THAT…I have a lot of respect for that. And I notice that the people who voted for him feel very much the same.
Yes, Donald Trump is an asshole, but he GETS SHIT DONE.
DESPITE THE ARMY OF OPPOSITION ARRAYED AGAINST HIM.
The stock market is roaring (while the media is telling me how horrible it is that my 401K balance is up 25% over the last 18 months). Unemployment is down to historic lows (especially among minorities, who the media tells me Trump REALLY REALLY HATES WHEN NO ONE CAN SEE HIM). Income taxes are down and incomes are up (but these thousand dollar bonuses are only CRUMBS compared to the $20 increases that San Fran Nan praised while The Lightbringer was in office). America is renegotiating trade deals that have placed American businesses at a disadvantage for years (while the media is dutifully finding the outliers who are being hurt by them). Even San Francisco is tasking work crews to clean up the piles of human waste piling up in their streets thanks to their liberal housing policies.
It's amazing how well things are going, how many things have turned around in just 18 months, and how terrible the media and Democrats want to make me feeeeeeel about it all. And vote for them.
Because, in case you missed it – Donald Trump is an asshole.
Well, DUH.
He's not the first asshole to be elected President. He may only be the first to make no effort to pretend to be otherwise.
And what was he elected to do?
HINT: He was not elected America's Mister Nice Guy. He certainly wasn't elected to be Jim Acosta's Self-Esteem Validation Machine.
And if he's on the ballot in 2020, you can bet your ass I'm going to vote for the prick.
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on August 28, 2018 Categories Politics9 Comments on TRUMP 2020
Why Do They HATE Him So Much?
I think it's a pretty simple explanation, really.
Donald Trump is different.
My honest opinion of George Washington is that he was not a politician. He was a classically educated Renaissance man of his times. He was a land surveyor. A militiaman. A planter and land investor. He was a political figure, but not anything like anything we see today. Elected before the advent of powerful political parties, he thought much and spoke little; in the feud between Jefferson and Hamilton he refused to take sides publicly.
In all the years since, not one other president has acted with such diplomacy, nor faced so little criticism. Washington benefited from his station and from his status as a Revolutionary war hero.
Since his time, American politics has rarely if ever crossed a period of such political harmony. Partisan rancor has been the rule, especially over the last half century.
The other important evolution in politics is the "lifetime public servant." Washington desired power so little that he had to be convinced to serve as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He eschewed the grandiose titles his peers wished to bestow upon him as President, and he stepped down after two terms even though popular sentiment could have kept him in office until his death.
Washington was different.
Trump is also different.
Let's be clear: Trump is no Washington. Trump isn't Lincoln or Reagan or Coolidge or even George W. Bush.
He is different.
He is not a politician. He is not a diplomat. He is not a military hero. He is not any of the things that Americans expect their presidents to be.
And the political establishment on both sides of the aisle DOES NOT UNDERSTAND HIM.
Frankly, neither do I.
But I do understand this:
I think this simple statement provides the best available explanation of the socio-political phenomenon we call "Never Trump" on the right and "#Resist" on the left.
One thing that makes Trump different is that he appears to be far more focused on getting things done, with very little interest in the process of HOW things get done.
And in a very short time, he has exposed most of the Washington establishment in this regard. There are very, very few politicos in the Beltway with his experience in business. For good or ill, where Trump is, THINGS HAPPEN. For years and years and years, Washington has been a noise machine where things get talked about but rarely happen. Trump is tipping that paradigm on its head.
The establishment does not understand that.
They fear it.
Because they fear it, they hate it. And their hate needs a target.
And the target is Donald Trump.
But Donald Trump is different.
All available evidence suggests that Donald Trump doesn't care who hates him, as long as THINGS GET DONE…
…and he gets the credit for it. (Everyone has flaws)
Trump's adversaries don't want to understand him. I think they just want to beat him into submission and get rid of him.
(I think Cocaine Mitch gets Trump a little bit…or if not, he at least understands how together he and Trump can reshape the Judicial branch for the next three or four decades. But McConnell is an outlier.)
A lot of people like the comparison of "They're playing checkers but he's playing chess." I don't think that holds up here.
I think the Establishment is at war with Trump, but he isn't playing their game. They throw bricks at him and expect him to be hurt, to fall over. But that hasn't ever been his nature or character. He just keeps getting bigger. I think he takes all the bricks they throw his way, and uses them to build a bigger castle, and begs them to throw more.
As I said before, I don't understand Trump. Especially what happened in Helsinki yesterday. But a rational observer who has been paying attention probably would not go far wrong to anticipate that there just might be something going on here that hasn't been predicted.
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on July 17, 2018 Categories Politics16 Comments on Why Do They HATE Him So Much?
It's Not A Gun Problem
So I guess it's time to talk about guns.
I have remained silent over the last several years on this topic. That's not because I don't have opinions; I do. I'm on the uncool side of the debate. You know…the one with all the guns.
There are several reasons I have not discussed it:
This is a large and complex issue. Surprisingly, it has almost nothing to do with guns.
I have always thought it disrespectful to jump from tragedy to politics without even a breath between. Recent events inform me that this disrespect no longer concerns most people.
The people who talk about solving the problem cannot even identify the problem. Hint: it isn't handguns, Trump, the GOP, the NRA, 30 round magazines or scary black automatic weapons.
The people who want to have a "gun control discussion" don't seem to want a discussion. They want to shout "DO WHAT I WANT! WHY DO YOU HATE CHILDREN?? SHUT UP, RACIST!!"
Nobody wants to be calm and rational.
Nobody seeks root causes.
Nobody will acknowledge that EVERY SINGLE shooting is different, EVERY SINGLE shooter is differently motivated, and in EVERY SINGLE case, the shooter broke multiple existing laws prior to executing whatever plan he created. As a result, there is no simple solution for every possible case.
The easy beginning here is to express grief and sympathy with the victims, and use that to leverage the Moral Authority Card to point at all the #UsualSuspects and shout "SHAAAAME ON YOOOUUUU!!" and then whine a bunch about doing something! ANYTHING! to get rid of the scary black guns.
Well, that's been tried. It hasn't worked.
And as for doing something! ANYTHING!! to get rid of guns in schools? That's been tried, too.
The Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990 (as amended in 1997) criminalized possession of a firearm in a school zone by an unauthorized person, subject to several exceptions. In English, it means "ya can't bring guns ta school if'n y'ain't got permission."
Observation tells us that hasn't worked, either.
Let's toss this huge rock into the pond and check out the ripples.
The American criminal justice system is imperfect. It was conceived by imperfect men, codified by imperfect men and women, and administered by imperfect men and women. As such, it will never work. Error is built into it. Error is introduced into it. Small errors become precedent. Precedent becomes policy. Policy compounds error, because it too is conceived, codified, implemented and administered by imperfect humans.
I don't believe the gun control lobby wants to solve the problem. If they wanted to solve the problem, they would first figure out what causes the problem.
Guns are not the problem.
Take a loaded, scary, black AR-15, disengage the safety, lay it on a counter in your kitchen, and you know what will happen?
It's a law of physics. Newton's First Law of Motion says that an object remains at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force.
That gun will sit there forever until something comes along and moves it. It won't get up, bounce on over to the local K-6 center and start popping caps at the kiddies. It won't even accidentally fall off the counter and discharge a round.
It will never do that unless acted on by a force.
It's not the gun that shoots people.
It's not the car that hits pedestrians.
It's not the fork and spoon that make people fat.
The problem is not the gun. It's the FORCE acting on the gun.
It's a person.
Someone is firing that gun. Maybe that person is the problem.
Or maybe they're just part of it.
Along with the imperfect folks who dreamed up and run the criminal justice system we have.
There's more to it.
Of course there's more to it.
I noticed that the two guys who did the shooting in Littleton, CO in 1999 killed themselves. In the aftermath, it was determined that both boys had serious problems.
Not serious enough that they were able to come back to life and execute a fatal shooting at a middle school in Deming, NM seven months later. That was another boy, a 12 year old with serious emotional problems. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
He hadn't been sentenced yet, but he was not the 6 year old boy who shot and killed a classmate at a school in Mount Morris Township, MI in February 2000. That boy was not charged, but the 19 year old boy living in the house, who left the gun where the youngster could get at it, was sentenced to prison, as was the boy's uncle who owned the house.
But in May of the same year, a 13 year old honor student shot and killed his favorite teacher in Lake Worth, Florida. He used a gun he had found earlier in a cookie tin at his godfather's house and, caught in a moment of high stress and impulsive anger, ended one life and forever ruined his own.
He was not available in March 2001, when a 15 year old boy, a victim of bullying at his new high school in Santee, California, killed two students and wounded thirteen. It was later determined that he had several stressors and emotional problems.
That troubled young man had been sentenced to life in prison by September of 2003, when another 15 year old freshman shot and killed two students at a high school in Cold Spring, Minnesota. According to the shooter, one of the victims bullied him over his severe acne. The other victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to Wikipedia, many psychiatrists examined this shooter. Some diagnosed him as schizophrenic, while others declared he had "depression in remission" and "an emerging personality disorder." In other words, the boy had serious problems.
It was different 16 year old boy with serious emotional problems who murdered his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend before going to his high school in Red Lake, Minnesota, where he opened fire, killing seven and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself.
In November 2005, yet another troubled 15 year old shot three men, killing one, with a gun he had brought to his high school in Jacksboro, Tennessee, hoping to trade it for OxyContin.
I can go on. Thanks to the Google Machine, I could list the circumstances behind every school shooting that has taken place since 1999, throwing in some non-school shootings for good measure as well, and you would find two things in common with each and every shooter: first, all of them were "troubled" in some way; and second, not a single one of them ever managed to do it again. The set of problems that led the boys at Columbine to that place, at that time, with those weapons are different from the set of problems leading up to every other shooting.
No two shootings are the same.
This will be true forever.
Every shooter wound up dead or in custody. My point is that there are young men out there who have problems, troubles and stresses, and up to and including the moment they first pull the trigger, they believe the best possible solution is to pick up a gun.
There may be more artful ways to say this, but none more accurate:
THAT'S FUCKED UP.
You have to wonder why these boys think a gun will solve their problem, don't you?
To step back up the chain a bit, you also have to wonder what piece of gun control legislation Congress can pass to fix that way of thinking.
The thinking of the person behind the gun?
Maybe so.
The problem is cultural. And as Andrew Breitbart pointed out, "Politics is downstream from culture."
This is where we come to some of the really deep, barely noticeable ripples from the rock I've thrown in this pond.
Fifty years ago, Hollywood made movies that entertained viewers more than they preached what horrible people those viewers were.
Fifty years ago, kids who had arguments at school settled it after school by the bike rack without worry about getting suspended for a week.
Fifty years ago, boys who couldn't behave in class got punished. My older brother had a teacher break an old-fashioned paddle over his backside when he was in fifth grade. I'm not talking about a flimsy hardware store yardstick, either, it was a pine plank with a handle and holes drilled in it for extra pleasure enhancement, nomesayin'?
Fifty years ago, people were virtuous. You could send your kids to the park to play without having to go along. You could watch them leave the house on a bike at sunrise to go knock on doors and find their friends to get a pick-up ballgame going, and know they would be home when the streetlights came on. If they brought friends home for lunch, they all got baloney sandwiches and potato chips, because their moms fed your kids yesterday.
Fifty years ago, the standard family unit was still nuclear. A father (male), a mother (female) and children.
Fifty years ago, people didn't have personal computers and handheld devices drawing their attention out of the real world and into a virtual reality. They had friends and neighbors, whose names they knew and with whom they had conversations.
Fifty years ago, kids achieved self-esteem by earning it through trial-and-error, by failing early and learning that "Hey, you know what? You can get over it and do better next time." Winners got trophies and everybody else griped until tomorrow.
Now, Hollywood cannot make a movie without overseers of political correctness deciding who is and is not the correct ethnicity for a role, and unleashing an Army of Wokeness on movies with a (culturally appropriate) cast of 99.8% black actors for not celebrating LGBT culture.
Yes, that happened this week.
Now, it doesn't matter who starts a fight at school. If one student touches another, even if the non-aggressor doesn't fight back, everybody gets suspended. That's the common sense solution, because it doesn't require any teachers or administrators to do anything as difficult as make a judgment call on a case-by-case basis.
Now, boys who can't behave in class still get punished, but with Ritalin and Adderall. If they still misbehave, the parents, oops, I mean – PARENT is called. Often there is only one. And whose side does that parent take? Their child, over the adult.
Now, you can't send kids to the park alone because of all the sexual predators on Law & Order: SVU and the serial killers on Criminal Minds. Your kid's bike (if they even have one) has a GPS unit so you know where they are every minute of the day. They figure out lunch on their own because everybody's at work, where you keep an eye on them with a webcam.
Now, the standard family unit is chaos. It's a panoply of choices, but the nuclear family unit is undeniably in decline. The head of a single parent family can rarely afford to alienate a child, because there's no good cop to encourage them after a much-deserved punishment is given.
Now, our families and friends are spread across the world in this global economy, and conversations happen across the Wi-Fi on a tiny glowing screen. Neighbors? Ain't nobody got time fo' dat! I'm binge-watching Stranger Things, leave me alone!
Now, kids are BORN with self esteem. Everyone is special. Nobody fails, they just succeed in a different way. And they sure don't learn to deal with it. Every game ends in a tie, everybody gets a participation trophy, and then we're all going for ice cream! When life doesn't go how it's supposed to, by God, somebody's to blame!
And when I find out who it is, I'm going to shoot them!
Or better yet, I'll pretend to BE them, call their local 911 and tell them I just shot my family so they send a SWAT team to their house, won't that be hilarious?
Fifty years ago, the culture encouraged self-reliance, strong families, neighborhood connection and independence.
Now, our culture tells us that those values are warped, that violence never solves anything, that you need your village to raise your child, that no particular family structure is better than any other, that to be cool you have to own the latest tech and have a maximum attention span of thirty-four seconds, that your friends matter more for their skin color than for their character, that you are unique and special and a winner JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE and somebody owes you a living just because you showed up.
This is the point where hysterics will start ticking off bullet points.
You're a HATER!
Why do you hate children?
Why are you anti-progress?
You want to go back to slavery!
Why do you hate women in the workforce?
You want separate lunch counters!
SHUT UP, RACIST!
Why do you defend pedophiles?
You're anti-family!
HOMOPHOBE!
You LUDDITE!
Of course, none of those things are true.
I am sure that others will rapidly reach those conclusions about me, consult the playbook and respond accordingly. In a moment you will encounter a quote that explains what I think of people like that, who have no particular purpose like I do for behaving the way I do toward some people…well, just one, really…someone has to be the Accurate Reflection.
All I am saying is things used to be one way. Now, things are different. As Stephen King might like to say, "The world has moved on." Some things are much, much better than they used to be. Other things are much, much worse.
There are unintended consequences to every social improvement.
Entertainers and journalists become politicized, and audiences become polarized.
Children are punished for acting like children, and they lose constructive and useful outlets for their God-given enthusiasms.
Entertainment shows us twenty years of sex criminals, thirteen years of serial killers, nothing but horror stories leading the local news, and people start to think there's a criminal around every corner and one in five girls are raped at college.
Families break up. Single mothers are incentivized by government welfare systems NOT to work AND to have MORE children out of wedlock, and the family unit becomes even weaker.
We allow our kids to learn they are fine just the way they are, that there are no winners and no losers and no success and no failure, and they never become motivated to be better.
We decide that punishing children in certain forceful and immediate ways is inappropriate, and they learn there are no consequences for breaking rules.
Taken individually, each of these is a small thing. Unfortunately, we can't take them individually. They have a collective, force-multiplying effect.
Break the bonds between people and drive them apart. Manufacture a moral basis for making one side superior to the other. Tell people they should be inordinately frightened. Emphasize conformity over excellence. Incentivize the breakup of the nuclear family, leaving emotional, hormonal teenagers without traditional support systems. Shame (and, ironically, punish) people who punish their children's bad behavior, then wonder why you get more bad behavior and broken families.
That's a broken culture.
There's a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein called Friday. It's set in a future where space travel is the norm, the Moon is colonized, and the United States has broken up into Balkanized nation-states. The plot is unimportant to this discussion (read the book anyway, I recommend it), but there is a moment in the second half of the book where one character asks the heroine,
"What are the marks of sick culture?"
"It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn't the whole population."
"A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms."
"Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts."
"High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that's old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way – even though there are always endless attempts to wish it away by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms.
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course – but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking away at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down. Oh, conscription and slavery and arbitrary compulsion of all sorts and imprisonment without bail and without speedy trial – but those things are obvious; all the histories list them."
"I think you have missed the most alarming symptom of all. This one I shall tell you. But go back and search for it. Examine it. Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named… But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.
"This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. It is too late to save this culture – this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper."
That passage has stuck with me since I read the book over thirty years ago. Not all of the symptoms mentioned above are present today. Many are. In my opinion, there are enough matches to the list Heinlein outlines here to conclude that ours is a dying culture.
And, politics being downstream of it…there is no way to "wish it away by legislation."
Imperfect systems are imperfect. Even the processes we have in place today failed to stop the latest shooting. The FBI received two separate reports about this shooter in the last six months and failed to do anything. The Broward County Sheriff's Department was called to his house 39 times in the 7 years prior to the shooting.
The problem is much larger than that. The problem is much larger than I have gotten around to describing in these thirty-two hundred words. Taking away every gun from every civilian in America, and melting them into a modern art masterpiece won't solve the problem.
In my next post on this topic, I'm going to try to cover some of the deep political obstacles that must be overcome prior to looking at solutions to whatever we want to call this problem.
Because it's not a gun problem.
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Author Paul KrendlerPosted on February 16, 2018 February 16, 2018 Categories Commentary, Culture, Guns, Politics18 Comments on It's Not A Gun Problem
Don't Look Now
Article V of the United States Constitution reads:
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
In more modern language, that means:
There are two methods by which Congress may amend this Constitution:
By a two-thirds vote of both Houses; or
By calling a Convention for proposing Amendments.
A Convention for proposing Amendments must be called when two-thirds of the Legislatures of the several States make Application to the Congress for that purpose.
In either case, Amendments shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes as Part of this Constitution when the Amendments are ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the states, or by Conventions in three-fourths of the states.
The following conditions restrict the nature of Amendments that may be made:
Prior to 1808, no Amendment shall affect Article I, Section 9, Clause 1 (this condition is moot)
No Amendment shall deprive a State of its equal representation in the Senate without that State's consent.
Taken in the context of current events, it is my considered opinion that the most interesting phrase in either version of the text above is this:
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments[.]
You know why I think that's interesting?
MATH.
No matter what Former President Obama might say, there are only 50 states in the Union, not 57.
The threshold to require the Congress to call a Convention is two-thirds of the Legislatures.
Two-thirds of 50 is…33 and 1/3rd, which for Constitutional purposes we must round up to 34.
Republicans currently control 33 of the 34 state legislatures required to call a Convention. Democrats control 13. Four states (Alaska, Connecticut, Maine and New York) have split legislatures or one of their two houses is currently deadlocked in a tie.
Just one state shy, and some really interesting things could start to happen. Hell, as enthusiastic as some Democrats are about getting rid of the Electoral College, it's a reasonable possibility that the Legislatures could make their applications now.
I don't think it's a good idea; in fact, I think it would make things much worse than they are now.
As a nation, we lack the attention span to be guided by wisdom. We, and more to the point, those who would lobby to be chosen to attend such a Convention, not only lack wisdom itself, but also the ability to recognize wisdom when it quietly happens by.
A Convention to Amend, in a 24 hour internet news cycle, would very likely hasten the end of the Republic, in the name of Progress.
It would be heaven for a political junkie.
But don't worry – I'm sure there is not a single special interest, foreign or domestic, conservative or progressive, gay, straight, lesbian, queer, transgendered, questioning or just confused, liberal feminist or radical feminist, Christian, Jewish, Atheist or Muslim, vegan or carnivore, pro-gun or anti-gun, pro-life or pro-choice, Soros or Koch, who has any sort of plan, agenda, war chest or army of lawyers and lobbyists ready to mobilize at a moment's notice to take full advantage of the opportunity to trade a little money to force their language into the greatest of all government charters.
No one has that kind of foresight.
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on March 6, 2017 March 6, 2017 Categories Politics3 Comments on Don't Look Now
Elaine Chao Confirmed
According to Twitchy, Elaine Chao was confirmed as Secretary of Transportation today by a vote of 93-6.
Here's a nice headshot of Ms. Chao.
For some reason, the mainstream media seems to prefer this one, though. Can't imagine why.
Voting against Ms. Chao's confirmation were Senators
Merkley
Now, if we are playing the political game by the rule book favored by those who actually voted against Ms. Chao's confirmation, there are only a very few reasons why they could have voted as they did.
What do you think the reasons were?
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on January 31, 2017 Categories Commentary, Politics3 Comments on Elaine Chao Confirmed
The Monday Night Massacre
I'm old enough to remember when this was all cool and shit:
You serve at the pleasure of the President. Not only when you agree with his politics.
Exit question: where will Sally Yates run for office? Because there is no question of if.
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on January 31, 2017 Categories Politics2 Comments on The Monday Night Massacre
The Karma Train Rolls On
…and if you pay attention, you notice.
@ChuckNellis What they endorse when convenient, they receive when not. They set a standard, then complain when it applies to them.
— Paul Krendler (@PaulZKrendler) January 13, 2017
The Democrats on Impeachment. CNN on being marginalized by Trump.
I'm shocked – SHOCKED! – to find gambling going on in this establishment!
Exit question: would it have been better or worse for CNN had Trump, instead of engaging, allowed Acosta to badger on unrestrained until he ran out of piss and then just turn to someone else for the next question without the dignity of a response?
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on January 13, 2017 January 13, 2017 Categories Media, Politics3 Comments on The Karma Train Rolls On
How We Got To Trump – Video Edition
I haven't watched every second of the videos below the jump, mainly because they are essentially the same video – as Julianne Moore puts it, "just a shit-ton of famous people," all of whom are – by the singular virtue of their fame – better than me, telling me what to think, what to do and how to vote. I know there's some more objectionable language than "shit-ton," so I'm calling it NSFW for language. Headphones recommended. Continue reading "How We Got To Trump – Video Edition"
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on December 15, 2016 Categories Politics5 Comments on How We Got To Trump – Video Edition
It's A Metaphor
It may only be me, but there appears to be a cogent comparison that the Left might understand in regards to this late news of renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton emails.
On the one hand, you have the Mainstream Media talking about the horrible consequences for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and the United States of America based on this late complication.
On the other hand, you have reasonable folks suggesting that this mess might never have happened if the Democrats had not nominated a woman who was under FBI investigation at the time.
Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like a teenage pregnancy?
If you had "pro-choiced" yourself up to saying "NO" eight months ago, you Democrats wouldn't have this godawful mess on your hands.
Perhaps the only solution left at this point is a late term abortion of Hillary's candidacy.
Author Paul KrendlerPosted on October 31, 2016 Categories Politics7 Comments on It's A Metaphor


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Having a good eye care routine is very important if you want to take good care of one of the most important parts of our body. You can easily take your sight for granted until something bad happens. The following tips will keep your eyes healthy and safe.
Ensure that you are seeing qualified medical specialists for testing and prescriptions. To locate the top doctors, look to your friends and family for suggestions, as well as find feedback from patients online. This helps you locate the best possible care for your eyes.
In the summer, sunglasses are crucial. It is important to do so in winter, too. Snow is white, and reflects a ton of light. Even when it does not snow, the sun gives off a strong light.
If eye problems seem to run in your family, visit an eyecare professional. Diseases need to be brought to the attention of your optometrist. By catching an eye problem sooner, you can spare your vision.
Sunglasses are not all equal in quality, and many don't even offer eye protection. Your pair needs 100% UVA and UVB ray blocking properties. You can even find fashionable options, but not all of these are well-made.
Wearing sunglasses is a great way to protect your eyesight. UV rays can cause damage to your eyes. UV protection is always important when picking sunglasses. They may cost a bit more, but it's worth it.
Be sure to go for an eye exam regularly. You should definitely get problems with your eyes looked at immediately; however, you might not see some issues show itself until a later time. For this reason, it is important to have your eyes checked regularly. Some of these eye conditions can be remedied if they are treated early enough.
Sunglasses are essential for proper eye care. This will protect your eyes from the damage that ultraviolet rays can do. Too much exposure can cause damage to the eyes. Opt for sunglasses that protect against UVB and UVA rays. For total protection, choose glasses that wraparound.
Protect your eyes by getting a good pair of sunglasses. They will help your eyes by blocking UV rays. Choose sunglasses that will completely block the UVA and UVB rays of the sun. If you drive a lot, consider polarized lenses. They also help you reduce glare. Sunglasses are always needed even if you have contacts.
Regular eye checkups are essential to proper eye health. Older people should get more frequent checkups. As you age, the likelihood of you having eye issues such as cataracts or even glaucoma are increased. An ophthalmologist can catch an issue early.
You should really stop smoking if you're concerned about your eye health. You are more likely to develop cataracts, optic nerve damage and macular degeneration when you are a smoker. If you have quit before but begun again, stop again. Every time you try to quit smoking your chances of success rise.
If you have puffy eyelids, use cucumbers to reduce the water retention. Just cut chilled cucumbers into slices a quarter of an inch thick. Lie back and close your eyes and place the slices on your eyelids. Rest for ten or fifteen minutes for best results. A green tea bag that has been soaked in cold water is also effective at reducing puffiness and inflammation.
Treat contact lenses with great care. Unfortunately a great number of people do not take proper care of their contact lenses. This can result in infections, irritations and possible loss of vision. Saline solution must be used to increase moisture in your lenses. There is plenty of bacteria in the mouth that can infect the eyes. Let your eyes have a break from contacts through wearing your glasses on the weekends.
Splash your eyes with cold water a few times each day to help when you are working long hours. This can relieve your eyes from redness or irritation. This can also give you a refreshing boost of energy.
Should you have irritation of the eyelids from makeup, oils or debris, it is a good idea to have a scrub solution available. Removal is eased through the lightly sudsing formula that gathers loose particles. Use this whenever your eyes feel irritated, or as a measure to prevent irritation.
To keep your eyes healthy, it is important to get the right nutrients. Zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C, vitamin E, and Lutein are all good for eyes. Irreversible conditions like cataracts and macular degeneration can be prevented.
Keep your eyes the same level as the monitor. Doing this will force your eyes to look in a downward angle at the computer screen This will minimize eye stress and prevent stiffening of your neck, shoulders and back.
It is important to focus on your health concerns to ensure your eyes stay healthy. Things like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol can actually harm your eyesight. If they aren't under control, you could sustain eye damage, and possibly vision loss. One eye disease known as diabetic retinopathy, which damages the blood vessels in the eye, is affected by the levels of your blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugar.
Smoking causes damage to your respiratory system, but it can also affect your eyes in a negative way. Smoking can lead to degenerative eye conditions. Smoking reduces the amount of antioxidants in the eyes and can lead to the development of cataracts. Your eyes are more likely to stay healthy if you stop smoking.
Be sure you're paying attention to the level of humidity in your home. Many times the air indoors is arid. This can be worse when heaters are running during the cold months. Dry air can irritate the eyes and cause moisture loss. This problem can be rectified by simply going to your favorite store and acquiring a portable system that removes the dryness from the air we breathe. This makes sure that the air that is in your home actually soothes your eyes instead of irritates them.
A lot of your life revolves around your vision. However, because so many of us can see well, we often take the ability to see for granted. Don't allow this to happen. Take these tips seriously and help ensure that your eyes work well for years to come.


Through the new program, the BID will help property owners who have long-term, vacant upper floor space, recruit artists interested in leasing studio spaces. The BID secured limited funds for matching grants from the state Housing Trust Fund Corp.'s New York Main Street Program in order to maintain reasonable rent rates.
DiBart said the BID will offer studio rates beginning at $350 a month and an expected 10,000 square feet of vacant upper floor space should be rehabilitated through the program by the end of the year.


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More Small Business Loan Funding; Relief Package To Provide Another $310 Billion
https://www.valleymorningstar.com/2020/04/24/more-small-business-loan-funding-re…
The U.S. Small Business Administration's $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, launched March 27 as a lifeline for small businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, ran out of money on April 16, leaving the vast majority of applicants in a lurch.
But PPP is about to receive a new round of funding to the tune of $310 billion, with $30 billion set aside for community-based lenders, small banks and credit unions, and another $30 billion for mid-sized banks and credit unions, according to an agreement announced by the House and approved by the Senate on April 21.
It's part of a $484 billion interim emergency relief package that includes additional help for small businesses in the form of $50 billion for SBA emergency disaster lending and $10 billion for emergency disaster grants, with "strong protections to ensure that our nation's farmers have access to this vital assistance," according to House Democratic leadership.
PPP provides loans up to $10 million to small business owners to cover payroll, rent, utilities and other costs, and are forgivable after eight weeks if employers keep workers on the job and maintain compensation levels. The loans are provided through banks and other lenders rather than through SBA. The interim package also contains $75 billion for reimbursements to hospitals and healthcare providers for coronavirus-related expenses and lost revenue (in addition to $100 billion in the CARES Act) and $25 billion to expanding coronavirus testing nationwide.
The interim package, which the House passed Thursday is meant as a bridge between the original, $2 trillion CARES Act signed March 27 and CARES 2, which is likely to be more in line with in terms of cost and likely to entail another bitter partisan battle. The interim package itself came about only after lengthy political standoff followed by intense negotiations between the two sides, with House Democrats holding out for conditions on how the money is spent and funding for hospitals, health systems and first-responder and front-line workers. Democrats failed to secure more funding for state, tribal and local governments reeling from the economic and public health impact of the pandemic, though House leaders noted that President Trump has signaled support for such funds to be included in CARES 2.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, speaking by phone Wednesday from Valley International Airport, en route to Washington D.C. for Thursday's vote on the interim package, said it's better than nothing although he still has concerns, pointing to news reports that a number of large, publicly traded companies received PPP loans intended for struggling small businesses before the program ran out of money.
"If you have a bank like JPMorgan Chase, and they've got a certain pot of money they're going to give out under PPP, and all that goes to New York businesses like Shake Shack, that's money that's not going to our local restaurant, gym owners and things like that," Vela said. "That's where the damage is being done. Also, we didn't get the state and local money that we really need, but we were able to get some hospital funding."
Shake Shack, which made $459.3 million in 2018 and has 168 locations in the United States, has said it will return the $10 million it received through PPP, while other large companies that receive loans through the program are under pressure to follow suit.
At any rate, Vela said he planned to vote for the interim package, which he called "really just patchwork," even as he worries about how CARES 2 will take shape.
"I'm going to support this mainly because we were able to procure a $60 billion set-aside for local, community, smaller banks so that the money can get to where it's supposed to," he said. "But I've got some real concerns with the way the PPP program is being administered. We've seen it in our casework. Of all our constituents — and we've had a lot, it's never been like this — that have called who are having their problems getting their PPP loans, most … were customers of banks where the decisions are made out of town, versus virtually no complaints from constituents who bank locally."
Permalink: https://vela.house.gov/2020/4/more-small-business-loan-funding-relief-package-to-provide-another-310-billion


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Online Update
« Vol 20, No 18 - September 23, 2022 | Main | Vol 20, No 20 - October 21, 2022 »
Vol 20, No 19 - October 7, 2022
- Member/Staff News
- SCLS Foundation Board Member Search
- Scholarships for WLA Conference in Lake Geneva
- Adult Mental Health First Aid
- 2022 WI Public Libraries CE Topics Survey
- BadgerLink Training Schedule for Fall 2022
- Free PLA Webinar Series: Social Emotional Learning in the Library
- Continuing Education Calendar
Member/Staff News
Welcome to Kyle Domer, director at Brodhead Memorial Public Library. Kyle's career started at Deforest Library, transitioning to working on political campaigns and working at the UW-Madison Law School Library. Kyle has spent some time being a stay-at-home Dad to a son and daughter, and he and his wife are expecting their 3rd child in the spring. Kyle enjoys the outdoors, and his hobbies are disc golfing and fishing. Kyle is looking forward to the challenges ahead and offering the Brodhead community outstanding library services.
WSLL@ Your Service
The October issue of WSLL @ Your Service is now online. In this issue: Cemetery and Burial Laws, This time of year it's common to see tombstones presiding over lawns and residential streets. While most tombstones you'll see are fake (and probably full of bad puns), burial law is something we can help people to research. Read more Abandoned Property, A ghoulishly sinister haunted house standing empty is a well-worn Halloween trope. The library fields many questions about abandoned property, year-round, not just at Halloween. Read more New Books, This month's featured titles include AHLA Vaccine, Vaccination, and Immunization Law and Opening Statements: winning in the beginning by winning the beginning. Read more Tech Tip, One of our featured books for this month, AHLA Vaccine, Vaccination, and Immunization Law, can be checked out as an eBook from anywhere. All you need is a library card! Learn the steps to check out a book, or place a hold. Read more Library News, There is still time to sign up for fall classes! Sign up for Advanced Wisconsin Legislative Research through the link in our newsletter. Read more October Snapshot, The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library recently celebrated the reopening of its downtown Eau Claire location after a year of renovations. This month's snapshot is of a sculpture from their renovated library. Read more
SCLS Foundation Board Member Search
The South Central Library System Foundation is looking for a new person to sit on its Board of Directors. Nick Studnicka will be stepping down at the end of this year. The board has nine spots, and one is filled by a SCLS Library Director appointed by Martha Van Pelt.
The Foundation board meets 4 times a year in January, April, July and October at 1:30 on the fourth Thursday of that month. Meetings typically last about an hour. The board decides how to distribute their money and plans the annual Cornerstone event. If you are interested, give Martha Van Pelt a call or email.
More information can be found at:
https://www.sclsfoundation.org/
Scholarships for Fall WLA Conference in Lake Geneva
Thinking about attending the Fall 2022 WLA Conference in Lake Geneva? SCLS is offering Continuing Education Scholarships for member library staff to attend the conference. This scholarship will cover registration, mileage, lodging, meals, and other costs to attend the conference. The WLA Conference is scheduled for November 1 - 4 at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa. There are seven (7) scholarships available for the fall WLA Conference and the deadline to apply is October 14, 2022.
The Scholarship program complements our existing CE Grant program. Applicants who don't receive a scholarship are encouraged to utilize CE Grant funds to offset the costs of attending a conference. The limit for in-state conferences has been increased to $300.
The SCLS CE Scholarship and Grant programs are funded in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services which administers the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Thank you!
Adult Mental Health First Aid
SCLS is offering another MHFA session on November 8 and 10 from 1 - 4 p.m. The sessions will not be recorded so please be sure you are able to attend both sessions.
Adult Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training is intended for adults who wish to help people with emerging mental health disorders or experiencing a mental health crisis. The goal of MHFA training is to teach people to recognize signs and symptoms of an emerging mental health disorder or mental health crisis. Participants also learn a 5-step action plan to engage and ultimately guide people to both professional and community resources that can help.
The class is a two-part training. Part one is a self-paced, online overview of the entire training. It takes about 2 hours and must be completed before the instructor-led session(s). This section includes:
What is Mental Health First Aid?
What do Mental Health First Aiders do?
What is the Mental Health First Aid action plan?
Considerations before reaching out.
What is mental health?
What is a mental health challenge?
What is stigma?
What is person-first language?
How do gaps in treatment impact people?
What are the risk factors for mental health challenges?
Certified Mental Health First Aid instructors lead Part 2 of the training. The 6-hour online session takes place over two days and takes the knowledge and skills learned in part one and applies them to crisis and non-crisis situations. Through a combination of lectures, activities, scenarios, and videos, participants learn to assess, approach, listen nonjudgmentally, give reassurance/information, encourage appropriate help, and encourage self-help to people showing signs/symptoms of a mental health disorder or mental health crisis.
Participants who complete the class receive a 3-year certification as a Mental Health First Aider.
This program is presented, in part, by the Department of Public Instruction, with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in the form of a Professional Learning Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant.
2022 WI Public Libraries CE Topics Survey
Here is your opportunity to tell Wisconsin library system continuing education planners what you would like to learn. Your responses will help shape and develop the offerings in your region and the state. Click on the 2022 WI Public Libraries CE Topics Survey and select topics for the areas that are of interest to you or your staff. You can also suggest topics even in areas we didn't list. This should take you eight (8) minutes or less. Submit your responses by Friday, October 28, 2022.
BadgerLink Training Schedule for Fall 2022
This fall, join BadgerLink trainer, Jen Champoux for a webinar series on BadgerLink resources. Each session will include a 20-minute brief overview of the resource(s), with 10 minutes for questions at the end. Can't attend but still interested? Recordings will be shared with registrants and posted to the BadgerLink training page.
Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers
Tuesday, November 8, 12-12:30 PM CST
Register for this webinar
Join this webinar to learn about BadgerLink resource, Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers, with its full-text daily and weekly Wisconsin newspapers from 2005 to 90 days ago, as well as from the 1800s and 1900s.
Consumer Reports Magazine and Buying Guide
Tuesday, November 15, 12-12:30 PM CST
Broken appliance? Need to purchase a car? Learn more about accessing both the Consumer Reports Magazine and the Buying Guide through BadgerLink resource, MasterFILE Complete.
Public Library Resources
Tuesday, December 6, 12-12:30 PM CST
Do you work in a public library and don't know where to start with sharing BadgerLink resources with your library users? Join this webinar to get started with the help of the Resource Guide for Public Libraries and prepare to be intrigued (but no longer overwhelmed) by all BadgerLink has to offer!
Free PLA Webinar Series: Social Emotional Learning in the Library</span
Libraries respond to the needs of our communities, and communities all over the world have experienced an elevated level of trauma and stress over the past few years. As we continue to serve the public in these challenging times, library workers must adapt, pivoting to incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into the work we do with families every day. In many cases, we are already using SEL in our work. This free webinar series will cover key SEL concepts and how to integrate them into library programs and activities. Book lists and other resources will be provided, and each session will include a calming mindfulness exercise for attendees. Register now!
Fundamentals of Social Emotional Learning
October 11, 2022, 1:00–2:00 p.m. Central
This webinar will give attendees the vocabulary to talk about SEL—with supervisors, administrators, funders, parents, colleagues, and community partners—and hone their skills for guiding patrons. Attendees will learn about the research and science behind this evidence-based approach to caring for their communities' mental health and wellness.
Practical Applications of Social Emotional Learning in the Library
November 8, 2022, 1:00–2:00 p.m. Central
This webinar will move beyond the fundamentals of SEL to provide attendees with practical applications for incorporating it into library programming. Presenters will introduce programs like Yoga Storytime, Nourishing Literacy, and mindfulness activities, which teach participants how to manage emotions and self-soothe.
Happy and Calm: Kids Yoga in the Library with Author Bari Koral
December 13, 2022, 1:00–2:00 p.m. Central
n this webinar, recording artist and picture book author Bari Koral will discuss opportunities, benefits, and strategies for introducing yoga into library programming for kids.
Recharge and Refresh with Wellness Educator Shayna Marmar
January 10, 2023, 1:00–2:00 p.m. Central
This webinar will complete the Social Emotional Learning series and focus on personal applications and benefits of SEL. Attendees will take away strategies and techniques for improving their own emotional wellness.
October 07, 2022 in 2022 | Permalink
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Partial loss of parvalbumin-containing hippocampal interneurons in dementia with Lewy bodies
Lookup NU author(s): Mary Johnson, Dr Fiona LeBeau, Emeritus Professor Elaine Perry
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common neurodegenerative dementia. Among many other neuropathological changes in DLB, brain region-specific cellular deficits have been reported. They include decreases in motor neuron and pyramidal cell densities, while neocortical parvalbumin (parv)-containing neurons are thought to be free of Lewy bodies and spared in DLB. However, elevated parv levels are found in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients suffering from dementia with Lewy bodies. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of hippocampal parv-immunoreactive neurons in well-characterised DLB cases and from controls using a specific antibody against the calcium binding protein. In addition, an analysis of the regional and cellular distribution of alpha-synuclein was carried out. Subfield and laminar distribution of parv-immunoreactive (ir) neurons on the hippocampus in subjects with DLB and controls were present exclusively as non-granule cells of the dentate gyrus (DG)/hilus and non-pyramidal cells of CA1, CA2, CA3 and CA4 areas of the hippocampus. The distribution patterns did not differ qualitatively between DLB and controls. Quantitative estimation of parv-ir neuron density revealed significant decreases in the dentate (DG)/hilus region as well as in the CA1 subfield. Double immunolabelling experiments showed that only 2% of parv expressing interneurons were laden with alpha-synuclein immunoreactive material. No significant changes were found for the total neuron densities in DLB cases. Our results show a partial loss of parv-expressing hippocampal interneurons in DLB, which might be the result of long-lasting calcium overload in combination with a proposed impaired mitochondrial function. It remains to be elucidated if the numerical decrease of this particular subset of hippocampal interneurons has consequences for the gamma (20-80 Hz) frequency activity in DLB patients.
Author(s): Bernstein HG, Johnson M, Perry RH, LeBeau FEN, Dobrowolny H, Bogerts B, Perry EK
Publication type: Article
Journal: Neuropathology
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1789.2010.01117.x
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29 Jan 2003 08:58 - Fienie Grobler
Get ready for Mandela the movie
A South African producer is turn the story of Nelson Mandela into a big screen epic capturing his life from childhood, to political awareness, 10 000 days of imprisonment and finally freedom.
"It's a very prestigious project, but also a very daunting task. Everybody feels -- and rightly so -- about Mr Mandela and his life. People take possession of it," producer Anant Singh told 'AFP'. "When you have to make a movie out of his life in under three hours it's not easy."
Mandela became the international symbol of resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa. His release after 27 years in jail and eventual transition to the country's first post-apartheid president from 1994 to 1999 is almost the stuff of fairy-tales.
The film will be based on his autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom", which carries an emotive account of his first moments of freedom, likely to be at the heart of the new movie.
"I felt -- even at the age of 71 -- that my life was beginning anew. My ten thousand days of imprisonment were at last over," Mandela, now 84, wrote in his book.
"When I was among the crowd, I raised my right fist, and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy."
Veteran actor Morgan Freeman has won the role of portraying the man who became for many a modern hero, and has acknowledged it is a daunting task.
"I'm honoured and terrified that I won't live up to the job of really presenting this man," he said.
Script writer William Nicholson, who also worked on "Sarafina!", "Gladiator" and "Shadowlands", is adopting "Long Walk to Freedom" into a screenplay to be directed by Indian film-maker Shekhar Kapur, who made his name with "Elizabeth", "Bandit Queen" and "The Four Feathers".
Kapur told a Canadian newspaper he initially turned the project down, but changed his mind after a trip to South Africa. "Somebody had to take the responsibility. He (Mandela) is a spiritual hero like Ghandi, he does not need to fight a bloody battle to win," Kapur said.
Mandela has often been likened to Mahatma Gandhi, who led Indian peaceful resistance to British colonial rule of the sub-continent.
Mandela also believed in non-violent protest, and even after being jailed for 27 years, he welcomed his former jailors into the new "rainbow nation", describing white Afrikaners as "decent people misled by their leaders".
Filming, projected to cost about $40-million, will start mid-year, and the movie could hit theatres late in 2004.
"There are probably going to be three actors -- Mandela as a child, as a teenager and then the young Mandela who comes to Jo'burg. We're in the process of finalising the script," Singh said.
"It may not be in a chronological order, but you would go back to his childhood because he was groomed as a royal lineage. You have to give that whole background including him growing up in Transkei."
Singh has produced or made 45 films in the last 15 years, including South Africa's most prevailing anti-apartheid films such as "Sarafina!" with Whoopi Goldberg and "Cry, the Beloved Country" with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris.
He also produced "Paljas", the first ever South African film submitted for consideration for an Oscar nomination in category Best Foreign Language Film.
His latest project would mainly be shot in South Africa, and the search for local talent for "Long Walk to Freedom" was still on, Singh said.
Several lead roles, such as that of Mandela's controversial second wife, the attractive Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom he divorced in 1992, and former South African President FW de Klerk, are still up for grabs.
De Klerk played a crucial role in the dismantling of the apartheid system, and announced Mandela's release from prison in a ground-breaking speech in February 1990. The pair was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1993.
"Local auditions will be held. There will be a big component of local and international talent. It's all about who is good for the role," said Singh. - Sapa


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Gilles Pélisson
TF1 Group
Pélisson was born on May 26, 1957 in France. He is the nephew of Gérard Pelisson, founder of the Accor Hotel Group. After graduation, he worked for Accor in Los Angeles. After various executive positions, he was appointed CEO & President of TF1 in October of 2015 and took up that position in February of 2016. Pélisson is married with two children.
Gilles Pélisson is a graduate of ESSEC Business School in Paris and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School,
Pélisson's first post after graduation was with the Accor group in Los Angeles. He then went on to work with Accor in the Asia-Pacific region. From 1998 to 1993, he served as the CEO of Accor's Courtepaille restaurant chain before moving to become joint chairman of the Novotel hotel chain. In 1995, he was appointed as CEO of Euro Disney and in 1997, also appointed chairman. He moved away from the hospitality sector in 2000, taking up the position of Chairman at the Suez-Telefónica ST3G consortium then moving to Bouygues Telecom in June 2001 as CEO and then also as Chairman from 2004 to January of 2006.
In January 2006, he moved back to Accor as CEO and again added the post of chairman to his role. He remained at Accor until 2011. Between 2011 and 2015, he was an independent director of French hotel and casino group, Barriere, NH Hoteles in Spain, Sun Resorts International in Mauritius, Accenture in the USA, and TF1 in France. He also served as a Senior Advisor to Jefferies Investment Bank of New York.
He was appointed as Chairman and CEO of TF1 on 19th February, 2016.
While at Euro Disney, Pélisson took part in the Disney parade dressed as Pluto.
Benoît Potier
Benoît Potier, born on 3 September 1957, is a CEO of Air Liquide.
Pierre Graff
Pierre Graff, born in Paris in 1947, is the CEO of La Société Aéroports de Paris.
Joseph DePinto
Aged 56, Joseph DePinto has been CEO & President of 7 Eleven since 2005. 7-Eleven...
Jacques Stern
Jacques Stern is the chairman of the Board and CEO of Edenred SA


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Home Accidents HDB lift ceiling collapse hit elderly and baby
HDB lift ceiling collapse hit elderly and baby
photo-from-ass
Part of a HDB lift ceiling collapsed and hit a 63-year-old elderly and a 2-year-old boy at Block 480, Pasir Ris Drive 4.
Mohammad Yazid Razali was commuting in the lift with his father, wife, two daughters and baby son when the metal panel of the lift container suddenly fell down on them. Everyone was unhurt except for the elderly man, who was scratched by the fallen debris, and the baby boy suffered a huge bump on his head.
Mohammad Yazid told media reporters that he is angry at the town council and hope that such incidents do not repeat:
"I am angry. What kind of lift is this? My son cried loudly and had nightmares. Now he's traumatised and afraid to enter lifts. It's lucky that I am tall and absorbed a lot of the impact (from the dislodged ceiling panel). But my grandfather and parents use the two lifts in the block every day. There are also quite a number of elderly people and kids who live there. I am worried that something might happen to them."
The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council did not offer any compensation for the victims, and Mohammad Yazid said that they should at least pay for the S$128 medical bill at the clinic.
According to state media Straits Times, lift ceiling collapsing is nothing new and had happened several times over the past one year:
"In the past year or so, several incidents have occurred in which ceiling boards, cladding or other structures have dislodged from HDB blocks. There have also been incidents involving lifts in which people were hurt."
This is the latest reported incident for failing HDB infrastructures after a recent spate of accidents over falling roofs and harrowing faulty lifts which severed an elderly's hand.
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